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Unifor Union Members in Nathan Phillips Square, Labour Day Monday September 2 2013

Every Labour Day in Toronto, Speeches are usually heard during early morning breakfast gatherings around Downtown Toronto ahead of the Labour Day Parade.

The biggest breakfast has traditionally been at the United Steelworkers Hall on Cecil Street.

This year something different and much bigger was done. Considering that many people this morning were at the Unifest party the night before, the early morning turn-out was impressive.

Unifor, the new Union created from the merging of The CAW and The CEP over the weekend during a Convention in Toronto, kicked off the 2013 Labour Day Parade with Speeches in Nathan Phillips Square.

Scheduled to begin at 8 a.m., the music played until 8:40 when the speeches finally began.

Jenny Ahn, newly minted Director of Political Action for Unifor was emcee.

A theme that ran throughout the speeches was raising the minimum wage, not just in Ontario, but nationally. The Community Organizing  mandate that Unifor adopted at their founding Convention over the weekend was also referred to a number of times. The idea is to reach out to non-union workers and non-union sector social justice efforts by Unifor members... something like that.

Speakers

Video - Labour Day Speeches

Photos

Deena Ladd, Workers’ Action Centre Co-ordinatorThomas Mulcair, NDP Leader of the Official Opposition

Michel Ouimet, Unifor Quebec DirectorHassan Yussuff, Canadian Labour Congress Secretary-TreasurerSid Ryan, Ontario Federation of Labour PresidentJerry Dias, newly elected Unifor National President
After the speeches, it was off to the Labour Day Parade for the Unifor membership.

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